Mine Safety Expert to Speak at Radford

Jack Spadaro is the former director of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy.

Environmental activist Jack Spadaro, a mine safety investigator for more than 40 years, will speak Tuesday at Radford University. His presentation will address the growing impact of mountaintop removal coal mining on the people of the Appalachian region.

Spadaro is former director of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy, a division of the Department of Labor. After he made public an investigation into a major environmental disaster in Martin County, Kentucky, in 2000, he lost his job.

Spadaro has spent much of his life in public service, educating people on the importance of protecting coal miners and their communities from environmental and health and safety hazards caused by mining operations.

Sponsored by Honors Academy, the lecture is being held in conjunction with the Appalachian Studies program, the School of Communication and the College of Professional and Graduate Studies. The free public program will be at 7 p.m. in McGuffy Hall on the Radford University campus.